Jeremy Lin's Success In Perspective

There is so much written about Jeremy Lin recently. Many claiming that there is somehow something special culturally that made him successful. It is unfair to Lin. And, it is either chauvinistic or bigoted, because it would be a generalization based on race and ethnicity. He is American, pure and simple, and is a successful athlete. Of Chinese ethnicity, true, but Lin is successful because he works hard, is gifted, and is lucky -- just like every other successful American athlete. I congratulate Lin and wish him continued success. But, let him enjoy his success. Don't lessen his success by making claims about vicarious contributions.

We Chinese-Americans have won the French Open (Michael Chang) in tennis and world championships (Michelle Kwan) in figure skating. Norm Chow, a Hawaiian, is the new UCLA head football coach. He'd lettered in football at BYU in the mid-1960's. I'd lettered in fencing, 69-71, and was captain of the UCLA epee team that won the gold medal in the 1971 Western Intercollegiate Fencing Championships and was twice silver medalist at the California State Epee Championship. There were surely many, many more such Chinese-American athletic successes.

We had proven years ago that neither is there any advantage nor any disadvantage in our Chinese culture or genetic make up. Athletes win because they work extremely hard, persevere, have had support, and are lucky. They and nobody else -- except for their parents, mentors, and direct supporters -- should claim success. And, the Chinese-American athlete is just like every other successful American athlete. One day, I would hope that the "Chinese-" hyphenation won't matter much. Sadly, it seems that it still matters much too much to much too many.

Does Siri do Chinese?

If Apple had neglected to review the possible meaning of "Siri" in Pinyin, then is it possible that Siri does not speak Mandarin? If that were the case, the Chinese speaking market would be sorely disappointed.

The "Jobs Touch" missing from Apple: The Chef's Dead. Long Live the Cook?

On January 14, 2009, in an internal Apple memo, Jobs wrote that in the previous week he had "learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought", and announced a six-month leave of absence until the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on his health. Tim Cook, who previously acted as CEO in Jobs's 2004 absence, became acting CEO of Apple,[133] with Jobs still involved with "major strategic decisions." [Wikipedia, accessed Oct. 12, 2011, 9:12 CET]

Could it be that on that day the "Jobs Touch" disappeared from the Apple menu and the great chef was replaced by a mere Cook? I offer two clues:

First, Siri in Pinyin could easily mean 'day of death' in Chinese. I wonder how Apple will deal with that marketing challenge. Would a healthy Jobs have overlooked the possible impression that the name would have on the superstitious Chinese-speakers and the predictable negative impact on the marketing in China? This is a population that would eat "facai" because it sounded like "fortuitous." It avoids "4" (si) because that sounds too much like "death" (si, different intonation). Sure, Apple could find some other Chinese characters in its Chinese marketing campaign. But, won't it have been better to check the technology's name in major languages in advance to avoid such problems?

Surely, Jobs's famous attention to details and to the non-technology aspects of products would have dealt with this. Many a post-announcement pundits have been trying to determine what Siri meant. I think that it came out of a Stanford Research Institute (SRI) effort and that would explain the S()ri. But, Apple could have renamed it easily.

Furthermore, to have introduced Siri with the death of Jobs is certainly a disaster. To many Chinese speakers, Siri may have boded the death of Jobs.

More troublesome is the focus on Siri. Is it a sign that function now is starting to trump form at Apple? The iPad 2 in 2010 and the iPhone 4s in 2011, the last two major upgrades, were both function-centric with little or no form changes to excite. In Jobs's days, we were joyously greeted with the Mac, the iPhone, the Macbook, Mac Air, the iPad, and the iPod generations. They all advanced both form and function. Where are the voices of the artistic innovators and designers at Apple? Did the new powers that be at Apple lose sight of that equally important side -- the aesthetic calligrapher in chief touch -- of the Jobs legacy over the past two years?

It is too early to tell, but two years is a long time in technology innovation. The chef is dead, long live the cook?

State of Our Union

Principle that has outlived the facts that it's founded on becomes intransigence. Value that has outlived the foundation it's built on becomes immorality. Nation that has outlived the principles and values its founded on becomes irrelevant. Conserving principles and values which have outlived their relevancy is idiocy.

We need leaders who move us forward and not anthropoid political stakes-in-the-ground to prevent us from moving.

Low Cost and Quick Installation of Temporary Roof for Authur Ashe Stadium?

Sitting here watching another rain delay at the US Open with TV talking heads complaining about the lack of a roof and the difficulties associated with adding a roof. I wondered why nobody had ever thought about simply putting up a tethered roof of light weight, transparent sheeting pulled up by a (or more) hot air balloon? The balloon would be tethered to the stadium itself and the tether lines could be used to hold up the sheeting.

The first company to offer this product/service could make lots of money from all those events to be held in open fields all around the world.

Radioshack USB Power Splitter: Beware

This cable is too smart for its purpose. Instead of simply using 4-wire cabling to connect the single male plug to two female sockets, it uses only the red and black power cables. And, then, it adds electronics to keep the data (white and green wires) pins of the female sockets at some predetermined voltage. Thus, it uses and wastes power even when nothing is plugged into its sockets and my battery powered sources become depleted over time. Some of my devices actually stopped charging even when a 4-wire splitter would work just fine.

To make matters worse, it's way too expensive at almost $15. The hefty price is presumably due to its "smart electronics". In any case, devices that expect to use USB chargers would expect the data wires to be simply shorted together.

First Step In Deficit Cutting: No New Tax Cuts and Credits and No Renewals

If we had learned anything at all from the recent deficit-cutting and depression-avoiding "debates", it would be that most people could not see what did not happen, but could have happened. They could not see what is not there but could have been there. At least, that was what many pundits have claimed, and it seemed to hold true.

Thus, most folks fail to see tax-cuts as expenditures. If we wish to encourage home ownership, then give mortgages a tax break. If we wish to encourage renewable energy development, then give hybrid and electric car buyers a tax credit.

Why not treat the incentives as expenditures? It would be more difficult for Congress to approve for precisely the right reasons, that they would be seen as spending tax money. It would be much easier to remove, for Congress would be seen as cutting deficit.

As for the depression? We did avoid it, but most folks won't know that. Although the recession is still with us, it is fairly stable. But, if we do not increase revenue soon, we could be heading into a second Great Recession and perhaps another Great Depression. Most economists could see that possibility.

The economists at the rating agencies have already indicated their concern. S&P has now reduced the US debt instruments from AAA to AA+. Those who fought against raising revenue will be spending more to do business. Whether it's to buy a house or to buy business supplies, their cost of borrowing will be higher. But, then, they won't see that happening until it has already happened to them.

Obama: Go For Entitlement Reform And Revenue Increase

Peter F. Drucker has one key question for the effective executive: How may I contribute to your success? I believe that Obama has decided that an extremely successful one-term based on answering that question is better than a failed two-term. If he leads the Dems to a cut to entitlement, as is rumored, and wins GOP support for revenue increase, he will be a most successful president. He may even win re-election.

Rare earth recycling must be part of our sustainability solution

In response to the recent Freakonomics article, The Rare Earth Conundrum:

Levitt missed one critical point. Even if China were to cut off our rare earth supply, the cars already on the road will still run. Old batteries — including those from all the cell phones, computers, tablets, etc. — could be still be recycled to extract rare earth. In other words, the total potential storage capacity from the rare earth that we already have will not diminish but will accumulate over time. If the recycling technology is yet not mature today, its development would be a gold mine to be explored. A complete sustainability solution should include the recycling of rare earth elements.

Do It Yourselfers, watch out for TSA (Terminally Stupid Administrators)

If you are a DIY'er, you may wish to check in your items, or you risk spending more than one hour with 15 TSA employees. I don't mind it when it's done with some intelligence. But, when the EWR Elite Access TSA security staff told me that my Toyota Prius car key has to be checked in and could not be carried pass the security checkpoint, it made me feel less secure. And, it was a waste of my time and tax money.

Their rationale? It has a button that could remotely activate something. I pointed out that all new car keys do that. When security is carried too far, it's stupidity that shifts energy and attention away from the truly dangerous security threats. It also shows lack of training and poor judgement.

Less stupid, but still a waste of time is the kind of items considered to be "modified." These are not allowed through. An extension cord with a switch? Modified. Shortened USB cables? modified. Radio Shack AA battery holders? Modified. In fact, anything that has been repaired would be considered "modified".

The Cheap DIY Charger for iPod (http://knowledgeaction.blogspot.com/2006/08/tech-tip-cheap-diy-charger-for-ipod.html) was designed and built, but it was not purchased and so .... You guessed it, it's "modified."

Letter/A4 Sized iPad?

I have been saying for awhile that Apple will have no choice but to come up with an A5 sized iPad/Touch. Now, with the new iPad 2 having been trimmed down in weight and thickness, it occurred to me that it portends a letter/A4 sized iPad. The current iPad users will start to find its current size to be too confining. The engineering that makes for the lighter weight and thinner iPad 2 would make the larger iPad a natural extension. The current iPad is designed to be used two-handed or to be placed on the desktop or laptop. It could be used on the go in a cradled manner. Either way, a larger sized iPad would offer more real estate without losing portability.

Concentrate sea water to brine for snow removal

Why not place sea water stils near oceans to concentrate and store brine in the summer and other sunny days for snow removal in the winter, see http://knowledgeaction.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-not-remove-snow-in-nyc-and-nj-using.html. The concentrated brine could be distributed more readily via tanker trucks. The stils should be in solid black to trap sunlight energy. Using conical covers would direct the steam for water recovery. The heat and pressure would kill any microorganisms and the steam could be used to generate electricity. Finally, the recovered water could be used to maintain greener parks and lawns.

Why not remove snow in NYC and NJ using sea water?

I am surprised that communities such as NYC and Summit and Millburn of NJ would consider using "brine machines" for snow removal. Whether the machines use salt from the salt mines or made from the sea, there is an environmental cost in transportation and manufacturing. They also use fresh water from the water supply or from wasting energy in melting the snow. Either way, it would be a waste. These communities are close enough to the Atlantic and its ample saline sea water. Why not simply transport sea water a short distance to use for melting snow on the roads? Sea water would flow back into the ocean via the sewers and would result in no additional environmental impact.

In the longer term, why not create a sea water piping systems to distribute sea water for snow removal purposes? It would save petroleum wasted on the snow removal machines and reduce the pollution they create.

Pocket eDGe Dualbook Update

Now that I'd used the Dualbook for a few weeks, I have encountered some things that need improvement.

1) The Reader handles image-based PDF files poorly. It is practically not usable because I could not zoom to details and could not scroll by dragging with the stylus as I could do on the Tablet. It works reasonably well with flow-able text documents but user friendly it is not.
2) The Tablet handles PDF files nicely. However, I could not find a way to set the "PDF to Go" as the default when launching a PDF file. I could only press the stylus/finger for a second or so and wait for the options wheel to show and then choose "Open in Tablet." It is a tedious process.
3) When I use the Library to select and save files from a USB stick, the files appear in the Library index. However, the files are not to be found in "Storage" or in "ES File Explorer".

Android 1.6 cripples the device as a media delivery platform. YouTube did not work initially, but is now fixed. However, most Flash based browser content is out of reach. I would not recommend this device to family and friends unless Entourage upgrades the Android version.

iPad Strategy?

I believe that Apple came out with the iPad as it did for two reasons. First, it sensed from the iPod Touch the emergence of a market for a tablet and wanted to be the first mover. Second, it knew that those who love all things Apple will pay the premium and will love it even if it were a bit unwieldy.

Apple's business model for the iPad is a bit like that of a pharmaceutical firm. Just as a pharmaceutical firm would charge a premium for prescription drugs and their customers must buy, Apple lovers must have the iPad. Being the first mover, it had captured the lion's share of the tablet market as anticipated. The premium cost of the iPad allows Apple to maximize profit. And, just as the pharmaceutical firm eventually would have to switch to generics with lower margins and capture additional profit, Apple would have to introduce a more generic 7" form factor iPad with camera(s) in order to compete with the Android tablets.

Pocket eDGe Dualbook

After spending 5 days with the DualbookJr, I found its tablet quite usable even if it's only Android 1.6. Its reader is clunky -- a far cry from the Kindle 2 or 3 -- for paging and zooming. ePub is fine. PDF is unusable on the reader but works great on the tablet. The reader's saving grace are its tablet integration and touch screen.

I won't be disappointed if iPad 2 would have the form factor of the DualbookJr. At 7.5"x11"x.5' unfolded and 7.5"x5.5"x1" folded and 1.35lbs, the DualbookJr is quite mobile. Such an iPad 2 would be much easier to hold and type when folded. Apple could integrate the two halves even better.

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The Pocket eDGe is an interesting little device. This photo shows the bottom with the stylus on the lower left. Starting the setup is easy. WiFi selection and entering key using the soft keyboard was intuitive. Very light. It is being charged.

Flipping the folded eDGe over and we are looking at the e-reader. The hinge contains the speakers. It looks clunky but it is not. In fact so far I am delighted by its feel.

The e-reader folds over completely! The Tablet side is shown here.

On the left is the e-reader using e-ink with a camera, mic, and speakers. The Android tablet is on the right. Nice and bright screen. I think it's meant for 16x9 video form factor.

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The first thing I'd noticed after the update and set up is that the e-reader itself has a touch sensitive interface! The second thing that really impressed me is that the reader and the tablet are integrated to work together.

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Android is V 1.6. Sigh....
No Hulu on Andoid?!
No Netflix on Android?!

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Am not a very fast. thumb typist. Not too difficult. I suppose. Stylus works better for me.

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FB for Android is much easier to use than using the iPod Touch. The Dualbook works exactly like my KindleTouch, but better. An A5 notebook cover with face-to-face iPod Touch & Kindle, my wife calls it my Touchkin.

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The Pocketedge Dualbook is well integrated. I could capture Web page to either epub or image and read it on the reader. Snapshot of reader page shows on tablet.

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Perhaps foreshadowing the Android-based Kindle 4 that I'd predicted earlier?

Chinese: Pinyin Empowers the Chinese Language

The most powerful feature and the biggest problem, simultaneously, for the Chinese language is the lack of association between sounds and characters. It is powerful because the Koreans, the Japanese, and the Vietnamese were, once upon a time, able to use the Chinese characters and pronounce them their own way. More importantly, people who spoke any of the hundreds of dialects, even the most radically different ones, could communicate in written form but pronouce it in their own way. The written language was what helped unite China millennia ago. Now, let us review the problem.

How do you know how to write what you say or think? There is only one way and it is pure memorization. In most Western languages one needs to memorized the alphabets, but not Chinese. Thus, if one is searching a traditional Chinese dictionary for a word/phrase one must first know how to write it and then know how to search using pen strokes. But, one searches a dictionary often because one has no idea how to write a character. Thus, it created a circular process that would drive anyone insane.

For example, we dined a few nights ago at the home of an eminent Chinese philosophy professor and scholar. Then, one of the lovely Chinese ladies around the table wondered how the Chinese word for "scoop" is written. They or their families were all from Northern China near Beijing so the word was likely a regional one. Now, a professor of Chinese philosophy, one may expect, would have many Chinese dictionaries. And, he did, but we could not find the word. So, I said I will find it once I were home. I have pinyin installed on my computer, so I typed in the sound of the word. Based on the choices offered, I found the word in a matter of minutes (擓- kuai3).

In any case, someone tried to create alphabets similar to those used in Japan. But, it proved somewhat cumbersome to use and special typewriters or typing conventions have to be used. On the other hand, in their goal to make Chinese more easy to learn and to be used by people, the PRC created the Pinyin system that maps sounds to a variation of the English alphabet. Whether it was the intention or not at the time of its creation, this act allowed for digital technology developed mainly for English to be used.

As a result, one could now type on the QWERY keyboard and use Microsoft Pinyin to write in Chinese. Pattern recognition technologies developed for voice recognition could be applied to simplify the Chinese writing process. Pinyin thusly empowers the Chinese language by allowing it to exploit the potential benefits of digital technology.

Chinese: Simplify Characters Complicate Comprehension

When the PRC decided to "simplify" written Chinese, they often made it more complicated and inefficient instead. By merging many characters, each multiple character word/phrase could take on many times more unrelated meanings. Thus, the writer may have an easier task, but the reader's brain must do more work. A writer usually writes once, but for many readers.

There is information in vision, and perception differs between vision and hearing. The Chinese language is based on visual comprehension of what are essentially pictorial representations of meanings. By merging characters that sound the same in Mandarin, they have merged many meanings into each character and at the same time discarded much of the visual information.

To illustrate this point, write something lengthy in Chinese characters and the same in pīnyīn. Then, give each to a separate group of people. Test them on comprehension after a short interval. I would expect, after normalizing for other influencing factors, that the characters group would do better. While the difference between traditional and simplified Chinese may not be as great, I expect there to be a difference as well. One way to test this would be to have some highly complex in meaning but concisely written text in both traditional and simplified form and give each to separate groups. I expect to see a difference in comprehension after normalizing.

Squeezing The Last Bit of Power From Alkaline Batteries

I have previously published a detailed how-to for a DIY all purpose handheld devices charger, see DIY Charger for Kindle 2 and Kindle 1, Ipods, Bla... and Tech Tip: Cheap DIY Charger for iPod + commented update.

All it takes is a bit of elbow grease, a soldering tool, and a few dollars of Radio Shack parts. The AA batteries were rechargeable and I charge them with solar energy on sunny days.

But finding out which AA battery has run low was too time consuming. So I replaced 3 of them with a Li-ion battery one would find powering most notebooks. This way, I only need to replace the AA NiMH when the unit runs low and recharge the Li-ion if the unit is still low. Then I noticed my son's spent alkaline AA batteries scattered around and decided to wring them dry first. After all, it take energy and creates pollution to manufacture and to dispose of them.

The mini-USB cable is used to charge most of our cell phones. The short white cable is used to charge my Kindle 3G and Kindle 2. The modified Apple cable is for the iPods/iPhones. I hate long cables so I chop them short and resolder them. The Apple cable broke on the USB end so I replaced it with the plug from another USB cable.

Kindle 3G Roaming and Other Matters

From my Facebook ramblings to friends.

Oct. 22, 2010

One reason that I purchased a Kindle 2 and then a Kindle 3g is the A5 form factor. It's why I believe that Apple will have to come out with a 7" Touch/iPad. Now, the Palm PDA inventors carried a wooden mock-up in their pockets to determine its physical usability and were wildly successful after others had failed. So, I walked around with the Kindle 3 in my pants and shorts pocket for months. Try that with the iPad!

Oct. 21, 2010

Kindle roaming 3G access is $0. "AT&T charges $25 per month for a mere 20MB of data and $200 per month for 200MB for international roaming (even in Canada). And if you don't use that data allotment within 30 days, you lose the remaining data." [PC World] I don't stream anything to the Kindle, but I do banking, email..., Facebook, news surfing, Wikipedia searching, and Googling. All free on the Kindle!

Oct. 14, 2010

Arrived Zurich. Kindle only Web access. Bit clumsy but it`s free! 3G.

I understand what Amazon meant when classifying the Kindle Browser as "Experimental." It has a tendency to hang the Kindle. Useful and free, but not very dependable.

Aging Eyes and Wrong Lens Design

For those of us who are extremely near-sighted with aging eyes, we could wear progressive lenses. But that does not solve the problem with heavy lenses with very thick edges. The main area is for myopia (thicker) and progress toward the bottom for reading (thinner). Instead, why not make the main lens area for reading and progress to the forward looking area for distance?

New Facebook security function should be added

A new security function should be added by Facebook in consideration of the dangers described in my previous post:

• Dangers of the pervasive use of the Facebook "Like....

Facebook should offer its users the option to remove information from friends that come from a particular Web address (URL). This function exists for messages from Facebook apps and would be useful to help users eliminate "Like" overload.

Dangers of the pervasive use of the Facebook "Like" Button

A dangerous spam or viral attack can stem from using the "Like" button on Web pages. We normally would not click on just any Web site that we encounter when we browse the Internet. However, we are tempted to click on something supposedly liked by a Facebook friend. But, if we do click on such Facebook links, we may be in for a rude surprise.

This attack is predicated on two prongs. The first is ease-of-use and the second is social engineering.

Unlike updating status or sharing one's thoughts -- actions that would take time, effort, and consideration -- clicking takes no effort. Consider opening your FB news and seeing nothing but these "Like" messages. It's a new form of attack that one could not ignore or hide unless one hides one's Facebook friends. Thus, this could be considered a variation of the denial-of-services attack.

Social engineering is also used to tempt and so to entrap FB users. The site typically has a religious tone or a cheap come-on. If you love Jesus, please click on the "Like" button. Or, if you want to get a free iPad please click on the "Like" button.

The end result is that a viral payload may be on these Web pages waiting to entrap anyone who clicks on the "if you like this ... please click" links from your FB friends that show up on your Facebook news feeds page.

Kindle WiFi

UPS tracking showed "Out for delivery" at 03:30 in the dark hours, but delivery was not made until 17:00. It took UPS 13.5 hours for the 16-mile delivery. But, it was well worth the wait. I took two photos with my BB Pearl despite its lousy resolution. I simply could not wait to use a better camera.

The Kindle WiFi (K3) and the Kindle 2 (K2) are shown here on my homemade cover. K3 occupies the side where I have my iPod Touch. It should come in handy for dual-column PDF reading.

Setting up the WiFi was easy. And, the new browser is so much more user friendly and the WiFi update is as fast as my netbook. Both PDF files and browser displays have the same zoom and pan functions. The difference between native PDF and Webkit browser and the K2's PDF and browser is like night and day. The b/w graphics are nice and crisp. Well enough to obviate the need for my iPod Touch.

Shown side-by side here in the lower photo. The new high contrast e-Ink display's text rivals (may even be superior to) the paperback (not shown) that I used as my benchmark. PDF handling is noticeably faster than that on the K2.

Kindle 3 displays Chinese well, something that was missing in K2 (unless I jailbreak it to work with Unicode). I set up the browser to view Google and BBC news in Chinese and the Chinese language World Journal. I believe it would only be a matter of time before Kindle books in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean would become available in order to meet consumer needs. Most likely, Baidu may start to offer *.prc or *.mobi versions of Chinese books first, because the potential Chinese market would be huge. Amazon would be well advised to start offering *.azw versions of Chinese and other character-based Asian language books.

Browsing the Web on the 6" b/w is quite nice when compared to the 3.5" Touch. Trade off is between size/cost and color/multitouch. For meeting my needs, I prefer to use the K3 to using the Touch, because I don't really lookmuch at photos or colored graphics. I could always use the Touch to view photos and graphs when needed.

China and its resurgence, 天高皇帝遠*

China always had attempted to close itself from external forces, but would fail and thrive from past creative destructions, its dynastic changes. Although others tend to think of China as a powerful monolith, it is in reality a frail union of parts held together by a weak centripetal force that diminishes with distance from its center. Deng and his successors understood this and allowed the economic creative destruction to take place.

It never learned to manage the external forces without suffering violence and disruption -- until Deng. However, unlike the previous cycles of creative destruction, the post-industrial era disruption had lasted for more than a century. Now, that creative destruction pattern is once again apparent but in a fairly peaceful managed process. On the other hand, Japan, isolated physically, had not gone through much creative destruction but did manage the industrial creative destruction in an exemplary manner through the Meiji Restoration. It also benefited by its WWII defeat. Presumably, the Chinese leadership had benefited from the Japanese experience.

China should continue to keep in mind the limitations of its centripetal force if it were to continue its so far successfully creative destruction process.

* 天高皇帝遠 Heaven is high and the emperor is far away. Forces exerted by the center diminishes with distance.

Japan needs a new kind of Kamikaze

For tens of centuries Japan thrived as a closed society, protected by the sea from the creative destroyers of China, who would benefit from the cultural pollination by the nomadic invaders. Now, the creative destroyers of China are not ethnic but economic. Japan's WWII destructive creation has run its course and it could benefit from the powerful new Kamikaze force of women, youth, and immigrants.

While the Sea of Japan and its Kamikaze had protected Japan from China, it lived in China's shadow. Globalization has removed the physical protection offered by the Sea of Japan, and Japan is again faced with a resurgent China. More than a century ago, when both were faced with the creative destroyers of industrialized nations, China resisted by attempting to close itself but failed and that failure resulted in more than a century of humiliation and destruction. Whereas, Japan took a wiser route of the Meiji Restoration by welcoming the destroyers and redirecting the forces in a creative way. Are the current Japanese leaders wise enough to take that plunge? Could it challenge and overcome the current self-preserving, self-serving Shogunate of the corporate bosses? If it does not, Japan will live another tens of centuries in China's shadow.

Thoughts on the recent economic eclipse, based on the Economist's article "Japan as number three: Watching China whizz by." Accessed on August 26, 2010 from The Economist at http://www.economist.com/node/16847828?story_id=16847828&fsrc=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economist%2Ffull_print_edition+%28The+Economist%3A+Full+print+edition%29.

Chinese petroleum (中国石油) moment:, 1985, 大庆: 朱杰 Seminar on thermal recovery simulation attended by 刘文章, et al

After the 1982 seminar in Beijing, Dad was invited to give another seminar. This time it would be in 大庆 and he was invited by 刘文章,

Chinese petroleum (中国石油) moment:, 1982, Beijing: 朱杰 Seminar on thermal recovery simulation attended by 秦同洛，刘文章, et al

Just three short years after Premier Deng Xiaoping's historic 1979 visit to the US, American scientists and engineers were invited to visit China as part of that countries Four Modernizations effort. Among the visiting experts was my father, Chieh (Jay) Chu, 朱杰, a leading expert in thermal recovery technology. I found the seminar presentation and notes in Dad's archives. The actual presentation is much too esoteric for this blog. However, the correspondence between Dad and 秦同洛, and the roster of attendees could be of historic significance. One participant, 刘文章, later hosted Dad's visit in 1985 to 大庆油田.

Dad went on to be named a Texaco (which acquired Getty and merged with Chevron) Fellow. 秦同洛 and 刘文章 went on to lead China's petroleum industry to overcome many challenges. Dad passed away in 2003 and 秦同洛 had passed away in 2000.

Wikileaks: Asymmetric Information Leads to Unequal Justice

Wikileaks states that its "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations."[1][15][*]

However, as Wikileaks grows it has shown one major flaw in its execution. It had apparently come into existence to meet the stated goal, exposing oppressive regimes, in the short term and within limited scope. Its builders had operated within the confined environments of such oppressive regimes, did not have the opportunity to review its information management architecture to ensure that it would achieve its goal in the longer term. As a result there exists a counterproductive flaw.

Consider the nature of oppressive regimes. In those regimes, the opportunity to have access to information would be limited and the risks of death and other great punishments for exposing information are great. In the less oppressive regimes, the opportunities are greater while the risks are lesser. As a consequence, when risks are minimal as balanced against benefits from self-interest or self-glorification, information with unforeseeable consequences could be exposed.

Thus, there is an inherent information asymmetry to Wikileaks that would enable the oppressive regimes in their struggles against the more humane, more open societies. Therefore, the help that the dissenters who created Wikileaks have been seeking to counter oppression would be severely hampered by the actions of the disgruntled in the more open societies. In fact, it is not impossible for Wikileaks to expose the dissidents in the oppressive regimes and subject them to further oppression. Wikileaks is therefore in danger of becoming a tool for administering unequal justice.

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* "Wikileaks". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Accessed on August 15, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks
1 "Wikileaks:About". Wikileaks. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080314204422/http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:About. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
15 ^ "Cyber-dissidents launch WikiLeaks, a site for whistleblowers". South China Morning Post. 11 January 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070221224039/http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=60857. Retrieved 28 February 2008.

Maestro Mel North (link to Facebook): A Short Resume

Maestro Mel North

Association Mondiale des Academies d’Armes Nationale: Maitre d’Armes (AAI)
Chef de La Commission Termes d’Escrime-AAI
United States Fencing Coaches Association: Fencing Master
British Academy of Fencing: Professor
Racing Club du France, member, Master.
Fencing Master of the former National Fencing Coaches Association of America, AFLA, and the present USFA… American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Fellow Helms Athletic Association. Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame…

Mel Robert North,
Was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, He began his fencing career at the age of ten at a Community Center on the West Side in Chicago. A swimmer with the Billy Rose Aqua-Cades from the age of three, he was declared a professional athlete after winning the major Foil Open in Chicago, at the age of thirteen, and was not allowed to continue as an Amateur fencer in the AFLA.
His love for “his sport” overcame the disappointment of his broken dream to make an Olympic team. He continued to study fencing because of his love of the game. He studied voice at Kimball Hall with Alexander Nakutin. He performed in several Operas and Musicals. An Experience that served him well later in his career.

North was Captain of his High School fencing team. Coach Jack Levine. And then of the University of Chicago fencing team under Maestro Alvar Hermanson.

He went on to become the Head Fencing Coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1960-1974, and then again to complete a tenure of 22 years. His Club, Salle de Nord became one of the Country’s premiers fencing clubs, ranked alongside of Santelli, the NYAC, and NYFC. SdeN became a Sister Club of the Racing Club du France.
His UCLA teams were virtually undefeated: 19 Individual and team Championships, posting 362 wins, 18 losses, and 174 consecutive wins! His high school students won 14 High School Championships and many medals…
Head Foil Coach, U.S. Team, World Championships, Cuba, 1969
Coach, U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Co, 1979, 1980, again in 2007-2008…Coach, World Championships, Montreal, Canada, 1967
Coach, U.S. Epee Team… Martini- Rossi Challenge, England, 1978
Coach Saudi Arabian World University Games Teams, 1978
United States Coach-Consultant to Japanese Olympic team, 1968
Also Coach-Consultant to the Korean Olympic team, 1968
Coach/Manager to US Professional Team, Professional World Championships, 1970, England. The United States won.
Coach, Martini-Rossi Challenge Team, 1979
Head Coach, Under 20 World Teams, Rotterdam, 1965
Coach of Junior and Senior World and Olympic, and University World games.
First professional to be appointed to the United states Commission of Fencing Rules and Officials…1972-1984 (Chaba Pallagy, Chair)
Director of the United States Olympic Fencing Camp on the West Coast, 1964
Director of the Junior Olympic Training Programs on the West Coast, 1964
Past president, Western Intercollegiate Fencing conference, Men
Past President, Western Intercollegiate Fencing Association, Women
Chairman, Western Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Rules Committee
Created The UCLA Invitational. The largest Fencing event in the Country…
Hosted the National Championships at UCLA, Southern California Division
Created the California High School Championships in Southern California
Fencing Consultant, Choreographer, UCLA Opera work shop, 10 years
Television Commercial fencing Consultant, CBS, VPS, KTTV
Fencing Master, 20th Century Fox Studios, Universal Studios, Four Star Productions.
Fencing Master, University of Denver, Master of fine Arts Program
Consultant and Lecturer, University of Colorado, Fort Collins, Co
Fencing Master, Metropolitan College, Denver, Co
Fencing Master, Lycee Francais de Los Angeles
Chair of the Nevada Division of Fencing, 1998-1999, 2007 through 2009

A BACKGROUND OF STUDY

A fencing professional for more than 50 years, In addition to training with Ralph Faulkner, Joseph Vince and Aldo Nadi in California He has studied under the watchful eyes of some of the finest Masters in Europe and the former USSR. Maitres Gourge, Nole, Genin, Donnendieu, Pardo and the great Michael Pecheux at The Racing Club of France and The INS.( National Sports Institute) Beke and Zabo of Hungary, Jean Von DerVoot, Netherlands, Chaikowiski of Poland, Laitmon, Urolov, of the Soviet Union, Aldo Nadi, and in 1990-91 and 1992 with Victor Bykov at the Olympic Camp in the Ukraine. Eight time World Teams Coach. 5 time coach for the Martini Rossi Challenges.
North had amassed a record in the 1960-1980 eras unequaled by any American born Fencing Master. He has produced many Divisional, Regional, National Champions and several International Champions. Students have been on over 60 World teams, 8 Olympic Teams, 5 Pan Am Teams, 37 World Cups, World University games. 5 Maccabiah Teams.

SOME STUDENT ACOMPLISHMENTS OF MAITRE NORTH
Aside from the many Individual and Team Divisional, and Regional Championships, Individual National Championships were won and his teams medaled 11 times in the National Championships. With more than thirty finalists…His students were Pacific Coast Champions in Foil, Epee, Sabre and women’s Foil, wining the overall hi-point trophy six years in a row! Returning to California, he trained Margo Miller, who won The Gold in Foil at the PCC’s


On the International scene, his students won individual Gold and Silver medals in the Maccabiah Games. Carl Borack, United States Senior Foil Champion, and winner of three Junior Championships in Foil, Epee and Sabre, won the Individual Sabre, fourth in Foil in the Maccabiah games. Joe Elliott, 1965 National Epee Champion received a Gold medal on the Epee Team. Carl Borack won three Individual Gold medals in Foil in the Pan Am Games, Elaine Cheris won the Silver in Women’s Foil in the Maccabiah Games Peter Schifrin, won Gold in the Junior National Championships in Epee and Silver in foil. Elly Butyl (originally from Holland, Jean Von Der Voots’ protégé) placed 4th place in women’s Foil in the World Championships, Borack, Cheris and Ken Morgariedge captured 6 Terres des Hommes, Canadian Championships. Barry Tompkins won five Gold medals in Modern Penthalon World Cups…Jim White was ninth in the Professional world Championships, Epee. Leonard Arron placed sixteenth in epee in the U-20 World Championships in Rotterdam, 1965. Donald Benge won the Mexican National Epee Championships. Abbey Silverstone won the Canadian National Epee Championships.
North suggested and formed, with Raoul Sudre, the United States Professional World Championship Team, and later was appointed Coach and Manager of that Team...The Team won the World Championships in London in 1972.
At the Nationals in New York, North was commissioned by the Japanese, to supplement the Training of Japanese fencer, Takauchi...who subsequently won that U.S. National Women's Foil Championship.

Maestro North has produced a composite of many Divisional, Regional, National, and some International Champions, and medal winners, that the Salle de Nord Alumni list reads like a Who's Who list of modern American Fencing. And, most recently in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, Barry Tompkins of Canada, won five Gold and two Silver medals in the Pentathlon World Cups. Bronze in Pan Am Games, Mexican National Pentathlon Championships, and more.

Nestor Rosario, National Foil Champion, a long time protégé, trained as a master by Mel North, formed several Clubs in Mexico…His Juniors, in 2003 won the Epee Team event and repeated in 2004. In 2005 his juniors won the Individual Foil, Individual and Epee Team Junior National Championships…
Nestor returned to competition, winning the Gold in the Mexican Veteran’s Open Championships… Foil, Epee, and Sabre.
Jo Redmon, trained with North, and fenced for Salle de Nord, was the successful Head Coach at Cal State Long Beach. Most of the Collegiate Coaches in Southern California were trained by Mel North: Jim White, Jo Redmon, Randy Mc Kenzie, Kim Ortega, Stewart Lee, Hasan Ali, J.L.Jackson, Peter Schifrin( San Jose), Eric Pommer, Ken Morgariedge( UCLA)…

In 1999, Mel North's new fencers dominated the Nevada Division's Championships: Michelle Brinlee winning the Women's Epee. In 2000, Michelle, then 14, won the Foil, Epee, and the Sabre Senior Championships. Kimberley Montoya, was another star ascending...Being a constant medalist and ranked 4th in the Country in Youth 14 Epee… Kian Ameli, ranked 2nd in the United States, in the Youth 10 epee, won the Gold in Sarasota New York in February, 2002. His sister, then eight year old Nicole Ameli was 12th in youth 10 Epee. Then won the Gold. Continuing under the guidance of North, both Kian and Nichole have medaled 19 times each, winning gold most of the time and had ranked first in the United States in their respective age groups.
Mel North has trained, from the beginning, every junior fencer in the State of Nevada that has obtained Gold in Divisional and NAC competition.

Some of his students (the former Who's Who) have been and still are Officers of The U.S.F.A, including Carl Borack, former National Foil Champion, Maccabiah Games Sabre Champion, 4 times Olympic Team Captain, and present representative to F.I.E. Peter Schifrin, National Epee Champion, Donald Alperstein, former President of U.S.F.A...Now the Legal Consul of U.S.F.A, Gerry Baumgart, U.S.F.A. Vice President and representative to F.I.E.
Sherry (Rose) Posthumous, U.S.F.A...Vice President, Sam Cheris, Former President of U.S.F.A, now Vice President... and representative to F.I.E....Robert Block who writes the Veteran’s page for USFA and there is more, too much to write here.
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Fencing Master, Mel North
AAI, NFCAA, F.I.E., USFCA, USFA, BAF
Maker of Champions, Choreographer, Director, Author

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SOME THEATRICAL CREDITS

Fencing Chorographer, UCLA opera workshop: 1964- 1974
Don Giovanni The Mask Maker, Japanese Premier.
La Forza Del Destino Infidelity Foiled
Marriage of Figaro, Director Barber of Seville, Director


STUDIOS AND PROJECTS
Fencing Consultant: CBS, VPS, KTTV, Four Star Productions, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros Studios, MGM, Republic Studios.
La Forza Del Destino San Francisco Opera

Marriage of Figaro: Director

Artistic fencing Consultant, Vogue Magazine, Germany.

Barber of Seville: Director

Billy Eckstein’s Revue, Moulin Rouge

Choreographer: Romeo and Juliet, Colorado Shakespeare Festival,

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Ca.

Fencing Master and Stage movement Director: Bonfils Theatre, Denver, Co “Taming of the Shrew”

Wiltshire Ebell Theater, Romeo and Juliet

Rashomon…Bonfils Theatre, Denver, Colorado

Rashomon, Schorenberg Hall, UCLA

Ghost writer for Cyrano de Bergerac, New York stage…

Creator and Director: 1966, Riviera Fencing Classic, Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Moulin Rouge Nightclub: Billy Eckstein’s Review

Cavalcade of Blades: Tropicana and Riviera Hotels, Las Vegas

“You Asked for It” Art Baker Television Show; Fencing ballet

Guest: Lyle Alzado and Bill Thompson Sports show, KWBZ, Denver, Co

Technical consultant: Diet Rite cola TV Commercial

Fencing Master: Max Schulman’s “Zelda” (pilot film)

Fencing Master Caravel Candy, TV Commercial

Guest: “Noonday”, Channel 7, TV Denver

Associate Choreographer: “The Court Jester”, Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone…1956

Fencing Master, Choreographer, Actor: Remake of “Mark of Zorro”, 20th Century Fox, 1974…Trained Frank Langella for the role of Zorro.

Fencing Master to Alan Alda, for “Sweet liberty.”

1966, “Spartacus” Universal Studios, 1st unit. Toni Curtis

Fencing Master, Choreographer for Arsenio Hall’s TV Special… and much more.


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COACH TO THEATRICAL PERSONALITIES

Tony Curtis Neil Diamond Frank Langella
Alan Alda Ross Martin Tim Matheson
Dean Jones Patti Page Richard Devron
Denny “ Scott” Miller Yvette Mimeu Annette Funcicello
Irish McCalla Elana Eden Jo Morrow
Danny Kaye Basil Rathbone Ricardo Montelbaum
Zaza Garbor, Cyd Charisse Laurence Olivier

Excalibur Knights and much more…



















M. Robert North
P.O. Box 9148
Pahrump, Nevada
89060
775-910-3489

Next Kindle for Spring 2011

A wild guess: Amazon's next Kindle for Spring 2011 will be an Android based, fully functional tablet sporting 7" multi-touch e-ink display of A5 size. Amazon already has Kindle software running on Android. It now also has an "experimental" Webkit based browser that suggests a standard-based strategy. The multi-hw/os Kindle platform suggests a highly portable architecture. Its newest Kindles approach a low price-high performance hurdle requiring migration to a broad-based device platform.

Computer Vision Syndrome

While discussing the relative merits of using the iPad versus an e-ink reader for reading e-books my nephew asked me to explain why the iPad's back-lighting would be disadvantageous when compared to the reflected lighting of e-ink readers. I did not know at first. But then it occurred to me that the eyes adjust to ambient lighting. When the pupils dilate in dark surroundings, the bright image of the back lit iPad would be too brightly focused on, and so would stress, a small section of the retina. But the e-ink readers only reflect the ambient light and the brightness of its screen image on the retina would be more compatible with the pupil dilation matching the ambient light.

The iPad: The Green Machine for Browsing

While I believe heavy readers, such as myself, would be better served to stay with E Ink readers like the Kindle, I believe the iPad is a green innovation for most other functions. The reason I like my Kindle for reading is that it consumes much, much less power than the iPad. The reason I believe that the iPad is a green innovation is that it consumes much, much less power than netbooks and other more powerful computers:

The iPad consumes 2.5 Watts per hour.
The Macbook we have consumes from 18 to 25 Watts per hour.
The netbook I am using right now consumes 10 Watts per hour.

I expect that other computers with larger displays than our Macbook and netbook would consume much more power.

There is one other consideration for the iPad. A nephew visited us with his iPad. That was when we found out that none of the iPod and iPhone chargers could charge it. The iPad has a non-standard USB requirement. USB 2 limits current to 1.8A at 5V while the iPad required 2A.

As a result, the iPad could not be charged by the Macbook, the netbook, or any of our computers. The existing car chargers would likely not work either, although we did not verify that. So, the iPad owner who plans to travel should always remember to bring its charger. And, care needs to be taken with extended iPad usage while the iPad is plugged into a car's lighter socket, probably with a newly purchased car charger designed for the iPad.

This I Believe

I believe that: Everyone has a right to work for a living. Every parent has a duty to ensure that their children can and will work for a living. Immigration laws must respect that right and that duty. And, finally, on that day that nobody wants to come to the US to exercise that right or discharge that duty is the day that we have failed as a nation, because our economy is no longer robust and attractive.

I hope that day never comes.

The iPad: Not for 'Green' Readers

All the excitement about the iPad as an e-reader misses a most important point for environmentally conscious avid readers such as myself. It's power hungry: 25 Whr for 11 hours vs. 1.53Whr for days on end.

The iPad: It's Half of the Picture

The iPad is only half a platform. In 2005, I wrote a position paper for the IMF predicting the future platform: A tablet wirelessly connected to a monitorless but otherwise complete notebook plus wirelessly connected peripherals like a headset. Each with its own power. If I were Apple, I'd come out with a monitorless MacBook as soon as possible.

Reps. Jason Altmire, John Boccieri, and Dennis Kucinich Take Note

If you think you will be safe by not voting for the health care reform bill, think again. Some of us, myself included, will donate to your Democratic primary opponents if you do not have the courage or conviction to reform our dead-man-walking system.

There are times when nothing but creative destruction is called for. When destruction is unavoidable, one could perform minor maintenance or wait for the perfect solution and risk losing much more than what one is trying to save. Or, one could plan for an orderly destruction and a sustained recreation.

Leadership requires the leader to act in the best interest of their followers in spite of themselves. If the founders wanted direct democracy, they would have created a referendum based system. In which case, a Facebook referendum of your district could replace you.

Vote "yes" on the reform bill.

Recent Musings On Facebook (2/27/10 - 3/10/10)

David L. Chu It seems that FB is like the real world in which exists 'club houses.' It would be equally useful, as in the real world, to to post signs that demarcate club house boundaries and to delineate rules of behavior. Else some friends may stumble unwittingly into them.
March 10 at 4:18pm

David L. Chu I think there should be a Spouse Appreciation Day. We often take our spouses for granted. They are there for us in sickness (not just health), in sadness (not just happiness), and in all our times of need. They toil in what we could not, They love us despite all our flaws. MANY THANKS!
March 10 at 9:26am

David L. Chu While recycling some old cardboard boxes, noticed an unopened envelope with beautiful handwriting "Happy Anniversary to George and Elaine" and flourishes to find card inside from "Mom" dated 1970. Who were George and Elaine and how did Mom feel?
March 6 at 8:36am

David L. Chu Now I get it! Obama's healhcare summit will allow moderate GOP members cover for reconciliation. If House passes Senate bill as is, reconciliation allows REMOVAL of budget items from final bill's cost. Senate GOP's could claim that they reduced cost in a bad bill by voting for reconciliation. All Dems could claim passing the rest. Brilliant?!
March 3 at 8:00am

David L. Chu Sen. Bunning is behaving like the French. [To my French friends, sorry!] Whenever the country is at a critical juncture, there is a strike by someone to squeeze something into their own coffer. The selfish rationale is always papered over with 'public interest' facade.
March 2 at 10:22am

David L. Chu To those congressmen who think that there is too much government, resign. You and your staff are part of this big government. You do nothing but complain about the size of the government while increasing your own pay.
February 28 at 9:39am

David L. Chu The LA Times analysis of WellPoint's Congressional testimony struck a chord: "(I)nsurers can remain profitable at all is by selling healthy people on policies that don't offer much coverage at all, while squeezing older, less healthy people remorselessly so they either pay for most of their care out of pocket or get priced out of the insurance market completely (thus becoming a burden for taxpayers)."

See More: What do we need health insurers for anyway? - www.latimes.com
WellPoint Chief Executive Angela F. Braly, left, and the company's chief actuary, Cynthia Miller, wait to testify at a House subcommittee hearing on the insurer's California rate increases. (Ann Heisenfelt / Associated Press / February 24, 2010)
February 28 at 9:24am

David L. Chu Perhaps voters should give Sen. Bunning a taste of what unemployment is like?
February 27 at 11:24am

David L. Chu For some unknown reason, my thoughts were of the Sung Dynasty Chinese Poetress 李清照 （1084－1156）. I fell in love, at a very early age, with her poetry of both 詞 and 詩 forms. Learned just now that my ancestor 宋代朱 熹说：“本朝妇人能文只有李易安与魏夫人”. To this day, my appreciation for English language poets and poems could not match my appreciation of her oeuvre.
February 27 at 9:21pm

David L. Chu I am beginning to wonder whether global warming has anything to do with the recent high Richter scale quakes around the globe.
February 27 at 5:16pm

Box of Expert Knowledge

I feel comfortable working within this box. If I ventured out of this box, would I make mistakes? Would I look stupid? But when the opportunity presented itself, I did not hesitate and I ventured outside my box of expert knowledge. I learn about and applied Fast Fourier Transform, which recently came to mind in a possible innovation. The story involved one of the earliest New Jersey's Inventor Hall of Fame laureates and resulted in a patent.

I ventured into George's office. He's in the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. I noticed these huge speakers and a hi-fi set in his office, and I joked, are you into hard metal? No, I think one could hear a change in the sound a refinery vessel makes when it is malfunctioning. Interesting, I said, perhaps I could help? Why not? He said. So, I set out to find a way by stepping outside my box of expert knowledge.

Nowadays, acoustic imaging is commonly used in the medical field . 25 years ago, they weren't so sophisticated. And, 25 years ago when a refinery vessel malfunctioned, it had to be torn apart. Production would be impacted or shut down even. But, if one could use acoustic imaging to identify the problem and its location, one could quickly resolve the problem with significant savings. So I learned how to analyze sound with Fast Fourier Transform.

Ironically, 25 years later, my own bodily refinery vessel, the heart, had malfunctioned and the problem was found by new acoustic imaging techniques. No doubt, Fast Fourier Transform was applied somewhere in the medical instruments.

Decisions and Boxes That Constrict Them

I feel the pressure of fleeting time. Knowledge I'd accumulated over my years that had helped me succeed in my own career would disappear with my passing. I hope not to pass on before I had a chance to transfer some of that knowledge to others. I sought no fortune nor fame nor grades but knowledge and I hope that I'd done some good in life. So, I started to post vignettes on Facebook to share with friends.

Life is a series of decisions waiting to be made. How we make those decisions will have everlasting impact on our lives. If we shared our life-stories, would that sharing make life richer for our friends and make their decision making easier?

Our decisions are often difficult due to the various boxes that we put ourselves in. Give this some thought: What boxes are boxing you in? How much more effective would you be if you were to break out of some of these boxes? What could you invent? What enterprises could you build? What new financial instruments could you create? Would the rewards out weigh the risks?

I will start out with the Box of Expert Knowledge.

Controlling Weather With Microwave (Dielectric Heating of Clouds)

We now have and use microwave ovens to cook meals, heat up water for tea, etc. The microwave affect water by dielectric heating. Basically, substances such as water molecules have electric poles (in water the H2O form two poles - dipoles) that would rotate in order to align themselves with the oscillating electric field of the microwave. Thus these oscillating molecules convert microwave energy to heat. Of course, fat and other material also have dipoles, but I am only interested in water because clouds are made of droplets or crystals of water.

So, why not direct microwaves at clouds to directly heat the water in clouds? By selecting the frequency and power of the microwave, we could disrupt the equilibrium of the water inside the clouds. Agitated water would likely collide and form large enough drops so as to fall to earth as rain.

As for controlling the microwave, we have all seen microwave towers with dish antennas. These dishes focus microwaves in a directional manner. For higher frequencies or more accuracy, we could use masers. Nowadays we all have heard of the term, laser. Before light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation [laser] was invented there was microwave amplification with maser.

The main point is this: By directly heating the water in clouds, we could affect cloud behavior and weather patterns. I expect other behaviors than rain creation to arise and to be exploited. If we create rain at a certain position, would the rain fall create a suction to pull the neighboring water droplets into the microwave? If we have had too much rain, would we be able to vaporize parts of clouds before they would have a chance to fall to earth? Could we control the direction of the clouds by selectively heating them?

Frequency Domain Analysis and Prediction of Stock Prices

It seems to me that stock prices must have cyclic elements due to possibly program based trading and cyclical influences such as those of institutional nature, e.d., Fed announcements, and naturally occurring cyclical phenomena. The statistical tools we see used today are not designed to deal with cyclical behavior. Perhaps frequency analysis tools used for signal analysis could be applied to model and predict stock behavior? It would be rather simple to hook up real time stock quotes to signal analysis tools to determine what deterministic cyclical behavior could be detected. If multiple stocks are analyzed by this method, as soon as any stock showing strong cyclic tendencies one should be able to predict its behavior.

One could also combine the frequency analysis results with statistic tools to select the most likely frequency behavior and thus improve the predictability of such cyclical stock.

Encapsulate the iceberg with plastic.

A 2005 article in the Guardian (click on the title to see the linked to article) described how the Gurschen glacier was wrapped in a sheet of plastic to protect it from melting. It was controversial in terms of what it would do to the glacial flora and fauna. However, I doubt that there would be equal controversy if one would wrap an iceberg in order to prevent it from premature melting while transporting it for its fresh water. It would be an interesting experiment to wrap a small iceberg with mylar or some other lightweight but tough plastic and transport it to its nearest water deprived coastal region.

Potential Gravitational Energy of Icebergs

From Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg, accessed on March 3, 2010], "Icebergs generally range from 1 to 75 metres (3–250 ft) above sea level and weigh 100,000 to 200 000 tons." Assuming a ton is defined in the North American sense of 2000 lbs. Also, "typically only one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg is above water. " If iceberg "A" has a center of mass at 100 feet, the center of mass of the iceberg below water would be at 1000 ft. Furthermore, let "A" weigh 100,000 tons, or 200,000,000 lbs.

The potential energy of "A" would then be 200,000,000 lbs x 1000 ft = 200,000,000,000 ft-lbs, or 200 billion ft-lbs. This is approximately 271 billion joules or 75 megawatt-hours. This is equivalent to 100,000 horsepower-hours. How far could iceberg "A" be pushed at a reasonably fast speed, yet slow enough to minimize water resistance, to any destination and retain half of its original mass? In other words, could an iceberg remanant the size of the Titanic, sunk by collision with an iceberg, of 52,000 tons reach any drought stricken coast?

What if the iceberg has stored wave energy in the form of ice flywheels, described in Wave energy capture and storage, and the stored energy is used for peak power water jet propulsion?

Wave energy capture and storage

This is an idea for capturing and storing wave energy. While the drawing uses ice and iceberg, the idea could be used with more traditional material such as ceramic, steel, or other massive and durable substances.

The wave entrance is opened to let wave in to push the spheres and discharged back into the water. Once a desired speed for the spheres has been reached, the entrance is closed and the water would drain completely. The spheres would continue to rotate,

When energy needs to be retrieved, water may be introduced into the wave entrance to fill the circular chamber and would be pushed out te discharge port to push a generator.

I did not do any patent search or even a Google search. I believe that using ice and encasing it in an iceberg may be innovative, but who knows?

Potential Energy Sources From The Iceberg

While viewing icebergs as a fresh-water source is not a new idea, the amount of power needed to move the icebergs has been a show-stopper. It is my opinion that people were thinking inside the box and were considering conventional means of propulsion. I believe that it is an innovation to try to use the iceberg's own possible green energy potential to get it to a destination and to keep it there. I could think of three energy sources extrinsic to each iceberg and two intrinsic sources.

First, we will consider the extrinsic sources of energy which are wind, solar, and wave. These would vary depending on the location and weather patterns.

• The wind is too much of a variable for me to take into consideration now. One could harness wind energy by converting it with wind farms or to set sail on the icebergs.
• Solar energy is less variable and would be the main energy source. Maximum solar energy could be calculated based on the time of the year, the iceberg's location, and the top surface area of the iceberg. By digging parabolic shapes into the iceberg and covering the entire iceberg with reflective surfaces --the Swiss is considering protecting the Alpine glaciers this way -- we could use various solar farming techniques. And, if the reflecting surfaces are themselves photovoltaic material we could directly generate electricity.
  
• Finally, wave energy could be exploited by drilling holes into the iceberg and set turbines into these holes to generate electricity. Although there is a net directional force from waves, the total wave energy from opposing direction waves could be explored to generate electricity or to turn flywheels to transfer kinetic energy of the waves into potential energy. I could envision giant slabs of ice being set in motion on giant sheets of ice in circular rings. Ice-on-ice loss would be fairly small.

Secondly, we will consider the two intrinsic energy sources of gravitational and thermal differences.

• The gravitational energy of each iceberg is (without careful analysis) that of the total weight of the iceberg being raised by the distance from the sea level to the center of the underwater mass. Considering the weight of each the iceberg, this energy could be enormous. The beauty of this source for propulsion is that it is proportional to the weight to be moved and hence my intuition indicated that self-propulsion may be viable.
• The iceberg is at -15 to -20 degree C. The surrounding sea water is, by its nature, higher than 0-degrees C. So a thermal gradient exists. And, if there is a thermal gradient, one should be able to extract energy.

This is a very rough first order analysis of the energy dormant in the iceberg. I hope others who are experts in the various fields could help perform more detailed analysis and document these as comments at this blog.

Inhabitable, self-sustaining green iceberg agriculture

One possibility to maintain and to regenerate the iceberg would be to cover its top with a layer of soil as insulation. Solar energy harvested directly by solar farms and indirectly through lakes could power homes and excess power could desalinate sea water to regenerate and replace depleted ice. Desalination would help maintain sea level since the additional ice would be made with sea water. Because the iceberg would have plenty of fresh water, one could grow produce and otherwise farm the soil. In fact, the soil would be self-watering. Thus, we would have self-sustaining green agriculture for its inhabitants.

The inhabitants on these icebergs have to be environmentally conscious if they wish to maintain ecological balance so that the icebergs would continue to exist. These icebergs could be tethered to land of the third world countries that are threatened by rising sea levels from global warming. And, additionally, being huge floating islands, these iceberg communities would suffer less from earth quake and tsunamis.

Wind Propelled Iceberg

If wind farms are strategically placed on the iceberg, one could control the turbines so that a net force vector could be created to propel the ice berg in a desired direction just as one would control the sails on large sailboats. And, if some of these turbines are linked to generator/motors, the iceberg also could be propelled by fans that would add to its control capabilities.

Iceberg Water Source

As the ice melts, the iceberg weighs less and floats higher. Thus one could control the height of the fresh water source through the fresh water discharge rate. Furthermore, the various methods which have been or will be described to propel the iceberg using its own fresh water discharges, wind turbine control, or conventional electrical drives that would utilize solar or hydro power from the iceberg itself could stabilize the iceberg.

With such an expanse of surface, wind farms, solar farms of mirror or photovoltaic cells, and hydroelectric generator could provide electricity as well.

Power could be diverted to cooling coils placed strategically under and around the iceberg to desalinate sea water by adding ice to the outer surfaces of the iceberg. Thus the iceberg would be self-regenerating to provide a constant supply of fresh water and energy.

Self-Propelling Icebergs

Method 1, Water Jet Propulsion.

Mirrors planted on top of the iceberg reflect light to one (or more) central mirror which focuses light in a controlled manner to create a lake of fresh water. Pipe(s) leads through pumping/valve station(s) from the lake to a lower level and jets in a controlled direction to propel the iceberg in the desired direction.

Possible Solution to Rising Sea Level and Fresh Water Shortage

In "Sin aqua non: Water shortages are a growing problem, but not for the reasons most people think" the Economist [April 8, 2009 issue, accessed at http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13447271&source=login_payBarrier on March 01, 2010] described the effects of global water shortage. "THE overthrow of Madagascar’s president in mid-March was partly caused by water problems—in South Korea. ... , a South Korean conglomerate, signed a deal to lease no less than half Madagascar’s arable land to grow grain for South Koreans.... One of the new leader’s first acts was to scrap the agreement."

The article goes on to describe that "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California declared a state of emergency. Not for the first time, he threatened water rationing in the state. 'It is clear,' says a recent report by the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme, 'that urgent action is needed if we are to avoid a global water crisis.'”

Furthermore, it goes on to say that "Australia has suffered a decade-long drought. "

On the other hand, a huge chunk of antarctic glacier was broken off by collision with an iceberg and thus creating a new iceberg "approximate(ly) the size of Australian Capital Territory." [Linked to article from ABH] More sea water is displaced by the weight and volume of the iceberg and the sea level rose ever more slightly.

So, why could we not fit the icebergs with our largest engines and sails and create iceberg ships and sail them to these coastal places? By creating huge lakes on the top of icebergs through focused solar power. Essentially, by setting mirrors to focus to a central point and reflecting the focused light downward we could created a water mine on these icebergs. Water flowing down would power generators and then be piped to places where there is fresh water shortage.

In fact, if the fresh water is melted in such a manner and released in a controlled manner, in a similar manner to how some boats are pushed by water jets, the iceberg could even power its own way through solar energy to distant shores!

As the iceberg melts, its weight lowers and the sea level rises. Its fresh water flows to arid lands instead of being mixed with salty sea water. Arid lands get reclaimed. Water flow generates green energy. If severe water shortage has economic effects as in the South Korean case and possibly for California agriculture, then won't there be economic incentives? And if water shortage has political consequences globally, surely, then, this solution would be enticing and both economically and politically viable sooner or later?

Mr. President, It's Time To Lead

Leadership requires the leader to act in the best interest of the followers in spite of themselves. If a person only does what followers demand, then he or she is no leader but a follower of followers. If the founders wanted direct democracy, they would have created a referendum based system, but they gave us a President to lead us.

***

"The American People" is not of one mind and rarely agrees completely on anything. I get annoyed whenever politicians, such as Coburn and Boehner, use this term as a cover to justify their own intransigence -- I am part of "the American People" and they don't speak for me!

The American People did elect Mr. Obama President. And we did not elect any individual senator or congressman to speak for all of us.

***

Mr. Obama, it is time to lead us despite our misgivings by fixing our health care system to the best of your abilities and powers. You were endowed by your parents and grandparents with abilities and you were trusted with powers by the American People. So, please act now!

A 9-year old girl died

From my Facebook

David L. Chu A police officer came by just now to pick up the recorder. He asked for my ID and the circumstances of my finding the recorder. Neighbors gawked, cars slowed down. I'd surmised that the device belonged to the investigator. But, what city? Googling news for "drowning Arcadia" (Sierra Madre would be my next query) located the news. A call to the police did the rest. Just another lost/found case -- soon to be forgotten.
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David L. Chu And, I happened to have walked past the big houses with their nice pools on Michellinda Avenue this morning on my way to the Pasadena Best Buy. The recorder was stowed away in my backpack waiting to be played. The story of the little girl who had drowned as told by her friends were waiting for me to hear. As I walked by the house where she drowned. Not knowing.
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David L. Chu There were no identification marks on the recorder and no names in the recordings other than that of the drowned girl and the interviewees, the kids. The recordings did show time and date. The 911 call was made at around 1417. The interviews started at around 1450. The date was 09-07-20. The recorder laid there for three days where only a pedestrian could have found it. This being SoCal, nobody walks. But me.
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David L. Chu What I'd found was a digital recorder. I had hoped that the recordings would lead me to the owner. But what I heard, five 10 - 20 minutes clips, tore at my heart. They were the other little kids trying to describe the drowning as it was happening. A male voice was trying to be as gentle as possible in questioning them. The police radios could be heard in the background. It's CSI not like it's on TV but real....
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David L. Chu A 9-year old girl died this Tuesday. She survived for less than 22 hours on life support after being found by other children on Monday to have been struggling in the pool. No adults were supervising the 8 children. In a strange twist of fate, I was pulled into this sad event. I knew neither the pool owner nor any of the other parties. I was simply trying to return a lost item that I'd found during my hike.
Girl's drowning prompts warning from officials - Pasadena Star-News
Source: www.pasadenastarnews.com
Girl

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David L. Chu Hiked 8miles (with 500feet climb) from Las Tunas DR and Baldwin Ave in Arcadia to the start of the San Gabriel Mountains/Angeles National Forest above the City of Sierra Madre. The foothills are brown and dry, in danger of brush fires. Down to Sierra Madre Blvd and west to the Best Buy at Sierra Madre Villa Ave and Foothill Blvd in Pasadena. Still a scorching day.

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Kindle 2: $0 Case and Podcasts

Before you discard the packing material for your Kindle 2, you may wish to consider using it to make your own carrying case. The images to the left are: Leftmost, the front view of the Kindle 2 in its case. Top right, the outside cover view of the opened case. This cover was made from the plastic coated sleeve. And, bottom right, the inside view of the opened case. The inside cover is made from the plastic coated instructions. The front of the case actually sandwiched a hard-cardboard cutout from the protective box. When making the outside cover, be sure to leave enough of it both for folding over the cardboard front and for folding under the Kindle 2. I chose not to use cardboard for the back of the case but to simply glue the Kindle 2 to the outside cover.

This case is surprisingly esthetically pleasing and functional. I could hold the Kindle 2 with the case open or by folding it all the way back. Except for the gluestick, everything I would need came with the Kindle 2.

By exploiting the obviously considerable effort that had gone into the packing design, everyone who's seen the end result thought that the Kindle 2 came with this case. I decided to make my own case when I realized that one was not included in the package. While I love my Kindle 1, I'd always found the carrying case much too thick and clumsy. So, in a way, I was actually glad that there was no case shipped with the Kindle. Yet, I was concerned that the eInk screen would be cracked by accident as was the fate of my first Kindle 1 during Hurricane Ike in Houston. The very hard cardboard protective box was obviously chosen carefully and it does its job well protecting the screen.

While I am writing about the Kindle 2, a few words concerning its speakers are warranted. I had previously synced podcasts to my iPod Nano using iTunes and then often plugged the Nano into powered speaks for playing back. I now simply copy the podcast folders via USB to Kindle 2's MUSIC folder. I found Kindle's MP3 playback capabilities lacking but useful for playing my podcasts contiguously. I could only find two functions: skip forward (Alt-f) and pulse/resume (Alt-space).

More thoughts about Kindle 2:
1) I found the new picture zoom (works in Kindle 1, too) useful but still lacking. By selecting the picture, it would auto-rotate/-zoom to fill the screen. However, I could not zoom further and pan.
2) The 5-way is less responsive than the scrollwheel for navigating the screen. I have not yet found a way to disable the auto-dictionary lookup. If a way exists, perhaps navigating the screen would be faster?
3) I like the granularity of highlighting with the 5-way.
4) I found using the on-screen bookmark bar in Kindle 1 much easier to use for navigating to bookmarks. Without it, I have to page through My Notes & Marks and even though I could choose to display only bookmarks the process is still not as user friendly.
5) The USB connection would often resets itself and no amount of (un)plugging the USB could restore the Kindle folders for Windows Explorer file management. I had to resort to Kindle Restart.

Wish list for Kindle 1 and Kindle 2: Better content management, picture handling, and native PDF viewing.

News Feeds for the Kindle

I travel to and from Europe quite frequently and, of course, miss the Whispernet, to check news on my Kindle. However, I found that by setting up Mobipocket Reader I could keep up with news feeds. All I had to do was to copy and past the URLs of the RSS feeds of my favorite news sources to the eNews List, done once, and then refresh the list and drag the files to my USB-connected Kindle. Reading news on the Kindle on long flights is quite convenient.

DIY Charger for Kindle 2 and Kindle 1, Ipods, Blackberries, etc.

Now that I have received my Kindle 2 I updated my rechargeable batteries-works based charger, see Tech Tip: Cheap DIY Charger for iPod + commented update, to work with it. I have been using the charger since 2006 for all my mobile devices. All that is required is a four AA holder (or AAA for its smaller size) @$2 from RadioShack, a USB socket (salvaged from an old USB hub, but could be cut from an USB extender that came with some USB device), and some easy soldering. NOTE: Solder only D+ and D- (the two middle pins --- or the Green and White leads, when using USB extender socket) together -- do not solder them to the negative charger output -- to make the charger comply with the new 2007 USB power mode specification.

Calling all Salle de Nord and UCLA "Mel's Kids"

I received a correction from Mel himself and I stand corrected with pleasure. My last posting concerning Mel's health, in response to a comment to An Asian-American Fencer at UCLA 1969-1971, was based on erroneous information from someone who was supposedly to have been in touch with Mel. When I had tried to arrange for a reunion of Mel's students to celebrate Mel's birthday, I was given some apparently misinformation. Please leave me a comment with your email contact information or email Mel directly if you would like to thank Mel for all that he had given us.

I will post something with the UCLA Varsity Club, of which, with thanks to Mel, I am a member, to see whether they could help.

===

HELLO, to all of my "Kids" at UCLA and the Salle...Nester Rosario sent this page to me...David et all, I do not have Alzheimer's and I am not 90 year's old... I am a young 84 and still teaching Fencing and still turning out champions. Stan Lechach came to the Salle and I trained him before he won the nationals....after our first loss to Air Force,,, we beat them every time after.
I now lve in Pahrump, NV.. Came back from teaching in the Olympic camp last year,and tutoring Coaches in Colorado.I woud love to hear from more of my guys from the salle and UCLA..I HEARD A WHISPER THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO SET UP A REUNION OF BOTH GROUPS...?????
I LOVE YOU ALL.
Maitre Mel North
maestromelnorth@aol.com

In Pursuit of Knowledge: DBA at GEM

As of November, 2008, I started my journey to earn a doctoral degree. Not just any degree, but a research-oriented, fully accredited degree in knowledge management. In addition, there are a number of factors of more personal nature that must be met. It has just occurred to me that there may be many other intelligent but clueless searchers similar to myself -- without any idea about how to begin to search for the right program for him/herself. Therefore, I have decided to share my experiences as I set off on my journey.

My needs, as I had finally determined them to be -- after a first attempt that landed an EMBA, made many good friends, found many great professors, and gained lots of great knowledge, but ended up without a doctor's degree -- were:

1. Must be from a real degree-conferring school where I would provide a rich and challenging learning environment.
2. The degree must be able to open doors to academia as well as to confer credibility for whatever second career that I would chose.
3. The program must help me leverage my executive experience and capture the knowledge I'd gained over my earlier career.
4. Must not tie me down to one location for any length of time. This is the one requirement that had eliminated all the Ph. D. programs that I'd examined.
5. Must have a multi-cultural and multi-disciplined student body with a similar level of experience to mine.
6. Must be conducted fully in English. Although I speak and read Mandarin fluently and French less fluently, I consider English to be my native language.
   
7. Must be affordable.

I had at first applied to and was accepted by the Weatherhead School of Case Western Reserve and its Executive Doctor of Management program. Unfortunately, I had to withdraw before start of the program because some of my immediate family members were extremely concerned about how my aging body (60yrs) would be able to handle the fairly rigorous travel schedule. And serendipity had changed the course of my life yet once more, I met someone at the exactly right moment who steered me to the Grenolbe Ecole de Management (GEM) and its Doctor of Business Administration program.

GEM offers its DBA, while retaining full academic control, with partner schools (facilities and screening) in a number of countries. Whereas I travel between Geneva and the US frequently, the Webster University of Geneva was how I entered the program and where most workshops would be held. In this manner, the GEM faculty members and not the executive students would have to travel.

The GEM DBA is a four-year program as mandated by the French system of higher learning. GEM is one of the grandes ecoles as opposed to an university. According to a good French friend, the French universities must accept students graduated from its lower level public schools but the grandes ecoles could be more selective. It was good enough for me to learn that despite its relative youth (150+ degrees conferred to date) the GEM DBA program produced professors (mostly associate level for newly minted doctors) worldwide in a number of colleges and universities. My own supervising professor, for example, teaches at the University of Athens and is a GEM (jointly with UK's Brunel) DBA holder.

The November initiation workshop was a weeklong intensive affair conducted in Grenoble. It introduced the program, the faculty, the academic process, and the research process. At the start of the day-long sesson on qualitative research, I knew immediately that the professor would be the one I would choose as my supervisor. Not only were the sample articles on knowledge management, I was fascinated by the qualitative research approach which aligned perfectly with how I felt research in this area should be conducted. Luckily for me, both the director and the professor, conferring during lunch, agreed with my request and I left Grenoble a very happy man.

I have to return to my studies now. I will try to capture in my next blogs my research activities and catch up on things I'd done to get to this point.

Clinton for State: Uniting Allies in Time of Need

I am concerned that the various news analyses concerning the possible nomination of Hillary for State are focused not mainly on what she could do for the country, but on more mundane considerations as if these were not troubled times. They point out personality conflicts, future conflicts in the 2012 race, how Biden would feel, possible Bill-problems, etc. In other words, the focus has been mainly inward facing on personal considerations. I believe that Hillary, when complemented with Barack, should form a formidable team in working with our existing allies and in gaining additional allies to tackle global recession and terrorism.

It is sheer folly to consider 2012 politics when we have a potential 2009 calamity at hand. I believe that neither Biden nor anyone else in Barack's new administration is unable to appreciate the importance of teamwork in serving our troubled nation. I sincerely hope that it comes to pass for Barack to name Hillary to, and for Hillary to accept, the position of Secretary of State. Together, the combined symbolism and skill-set would create a diplomatic force that may never again be equalled.

What a Beautiful Day, Si Se Puede!

To quote from Oklahoma! -- Oh what a beautiful morning. Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling. Everything's going my (our) way!

I sincerely hope that our country has matured and is ready to move on and tackle the difficult task of recreating after destruction. Obama and all of us have a very difficult road in front of us. But, I had learned, on April 10, 2006, amongst the gathered Latino and Hispanic crowd at the National Mall a phrase which symbolized the strength of unity, that as one people nothing is impossible to achieve -- si se puede!

When I attended in Geneva a Meet Samantha Power fundraiser for Obama, I wore my old, tattered UCLA letter jacket. It was a symbol of racism. I wrote an op ed to the Washington Post about the experience behind it. I wore it again when I went to an election eve gathering. A letter jacket symbolizes "All American" and yet I was told to return to where I came from while proudly wearing it almost forty years ago. After working these years as a flag in my own struggles against racism, I could finally lay it down. It's a start.

Yes, we can!

One people, not just Americans but the global village, can overcome the death and destruction in Africa, the religious pogroms everywhere, the racist acts, and the terrorist activities. An Obama White House, with a most diverse extended family with its origins in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands, symbolizes that we are one people that can unite to do great things.

What a beautiful, beautiful day!